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Rian Johnson Rebuts Kathleen Kennedy’s Claim He Was “Spooked” by ‘Star Wars’ Backlash

He maintains the planned trilogy never moved past early concepts, with his focus shifting to Knives Out.

Overview

  • Johnson wrote on X, “lol zero spooked, sorry,” responding to coverage of Kathleen Kennedy’s remarks.
  • In an exit interview, Kennedy said she believes Johnson was deterred by online negativity, while also calling him a brilliant filmmaker who made one of the best Star Wars movies.
  • After The Last Jedi in 2017, Johnson was slated to develop a new Star Wars trilogy, but the project did not get off the ground as he turned to launching Knives Out.
  • Johnson previously told Rolling Stone the trilogy “never made it deep into development,” describing it as “all very conceptual” and saying, “Nothing really happened with it.”
  • In December, Johnson said he expected pushback to The Last Jedi and was not afraid of challenging audience expectations.